Tori Kelly

Tori Kelly’s voice is a powerful instrument that propels her faith-inspired modern pop into profoundly uplifting territory. The California native, born in 1992 to a musical family, had her sights set on a life of song early on, and took a winding path to get there. After an appearance on American Idol in 2010 where she failed to make it to the top, Kelly turned to social media, uploading videos of her original tunes and building a fanbase that pushed her debut EP—the charming Handmade Songs, on which she played most of the instruments—into the Top 10 Pop Albums on iTunes. It helped establish Kelly’s bright, R&B-influenced sound and led her to ink a deal with Capitol, which released her first full-length in 2015. Unbreakable Smile pumped up the production toward arena-ready Top 40 (“Should’ve Been Us”) and set Kelly’s pipes front and centre, especially on songs like “I Was Made for Loving You”, a poignant folk-pop love song with Ed Sheeran. Her third album, Hiding Place, embraced her faith with a heavy gospel influence, and 2019’s multifaceted Inspired by True Events expanded her repertoire with bluesy rock (“Language”), dreamy pop (“Coffee”) and heart-swelling soul (“Your Words”).